The present invention relates to a control apparatus which controls a plurality of showcases in which the insides of display chambers for displaying commodities are illuminated with LED illumination apparatuses.
Heretofore, in a showcase which displays commodities in a display chamber and which is provided with illumination apparatuses for illuminating the commodities, fluorescent lamps have been used as the illumination apparatuses (e.g., see Patent Document 1. Pillars are vertically provided in the center of the edge of a front-surface opening or on both sides of the opening edge in a vertical direction, and the fluorescent lamps are attached to the rear surfaces of the pillars to illuminate the inside of the display chamber from the front side (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-224150 (Patent Document 1) and Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 2546302 (Patent Document 2)).
The above-mentioned fluorescent lamps are forced to be subjected to a replacement operation owing to luminance lowering or lighting defect due to aged deterioration. Therefore, a user is forced to perform the replacement operation of the fluorescent lamps, which causes a problem that the operation becomes laborious. A new fluorescent lamp for replacement needs to be constantly stored, and a storage place for the fluorescent lamp needs to be secured. Furthermore, the fluorescent lamp contains mercury, and hence there has been a problem that the used fluorescent lamp cannot easily be discarded.
Moreover, the display chamber as a cooling space has a low temperature, and the heretofore used fluorescent lamp therefore requires a certain degree of time for realizing a predetermined illumination intensity immediately after the lamp is turned on. In consequence, when the fluorescent lamp is frequently turned on/off, stable illumination cannot be performed, which sometimes causes a problem that the life of the fluorescent lamp itself shortens. Therefore, it has been difficult to realize an illumination presentation effect by the frequent turning ON/OFF or illumination intensity changing control. Consequently, it has been difficult to realize the illumination entirely having a high presentation effect by controlling the illumination apparatuses provided in the plurality of showcases.